Wednesday rant: Optimism over U.S. loss to Brazil overblown

July 1, 12:58 PMMissouri Tigers ExaminerRyan Faller

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Dixon has been receiving the praise of soon-to-be Missouri teammates

Another week is in the books and, thus, so is another wide variety of events that have me thinking.

It's time for another mid-week rant.

• A trio of Tigers-to-be were on display at the Demetrious Johnson Charitable Foundation All-Star Game over the weekend.

Point guard Michael Dixon and power forwards Jonathan Underwood and Tyler Stone, all members of Mike Anderson's 2009 recruiting class, combined for 46 points, 17 rebounds, and eight blocks to lead the National All-Stars to a 126-123 win over the Midwest Local All-Stars at Harris Stowe University in St. Louis on Saturday evening.

As is typical of most games that are played to showcase the country's best in prep basketball talent, this one was short on defense, with all three future Tigers figuring prominently in the scoring.

Dixon, a 6'0", 165-pound native of Lee's Summit, Mo., who was coveted by a large number of programs that included Kansas, Oklahoma, Marquette, and Louisville, scored 10 of his team's first 14 points en route to a team-high 24 points and MVP honors, becoming the third MU signee to win the award in the past four years.

The 6'7", 210-pound Stone, who, like Dixon, has been on campus in Columbia for several weeks, scored 11 points to go along with six boards. A product of Memphis, where Anderson has made a discernible effort to pluck recruits, Stone is the third player on the Missouri roster to hail from Tennessee, joining Keith Ramsey and Laurence Bowers.

If there was any defense being played at all on Saturday night, it mostly came from Underwood, a 6'9", 200-pound menace in the paint. Set to arrive in Columbia in August after spending his summer working out in Maryland, Underwood arrived in St. Louis just in time to put on a shot-blocking clinic. According to some reports, Underwood got his large hands on as many as 10 shots, a stat that nearly dwarfed his offensive contribution of 11 points.

Other sources reported that Underwood recorded eight blocks during the game, which did not feature any official statistics.

• The Columbia Daily Tribune's Dave Matter evaluates the two latest members to join what is becoming a stockpile of talent under center in Gary Pinkel's football program at Missouri.
• Missouri placed 36th in the most recent Directors' Cup standings to set an all-time high mark, eclipsing a 37th-place finish in 2002-03.

Released by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics every year since 1993, the Directors' Cup standings measure the successes of a school's athletic programs by assigning a designated number of points to each program based on its performance. An accumulative score is then tabulated and used to determine that particular school's place in the standings.

Based on the current scoring system, which records the performance of 20 teams (10 men's, 10 women's) from each Division I institution, Missouri generated 585.30 points. Of Missouri's 20 programs, 12 registered points while seven finished the season ranked in the nation's Top 25, tying a school record. One of seven Big 12 schools to place in the top 40, Missouri ranked behind Oklahoma State (35), Baylor (33), Nebraska (31), Oklahoma (29), Texas A&M (13), and Texas (6).

Ramblings

•  Is a disheartening loss celebrated with such optimism, fervor, and ignorance in any other professional sport in this country as much as it is in soccer?

The answer, without even thinking, is a resounding no. In terms of international competition, the U.S. is expected to be a force, therefore losses are often labeled as inexcusable and disastrous. But soccer is different. It is perhaps the one sport through which the American public does not live or die by the frailty of high expectations.

Sure, you have your hooligans who will burn flares and wear colorful scarves at an MLS match. The same fans might even incite a riot over an own-goal. By and large, though, this is no hotbed whereby superstars are bred.

With so many other sports to occupy our time, soccer matters only once every four years, if at all. To use a startling analogy, soccer is the bastard child of our nation's rich sports culture, giving way to the legitimacy of games like football, baseball, basketball, and maybe even hockey. As odd as it may be, we Americans don't possess the innate ability it takes to dominate the sport, nor do have a reason to care. The athletes in this country are not manufactured and hardwired genetically to play soccer. In America, soccer is not a way of life; soccer is a game. Nothing more, nothing less.

If the United States were to become a soccer nation, it would have happened by now.  

Because this country, over time, has developed a thirst for being the best at everything, we still hold a tiny thread of hope that one day we can master a game that the rest of the world regards as something greater, something less tangible. The most powerful nation on the face of this planet can't stand the idea that it's not great at something, and as the rest of the world has long snickered, the United States has tried in vain to make an impression on the international soccer scene.

Jay DeMerit and the U.S. still has a ways to go to catch up with the rest of the world (Getty)

But the latest U.S. soccer letdown has raised some eyebrows, bringing credence to the idea that quite possibly America, a nation without the luxury of rich reserves of soccer talent, has finally constructed the blueprint needed to compete with the rest of the world.

Sunday's 3-2 loss to Brazil in the Confederation Cup final was not unexpected, but the drama with which it unfolded was certainly alarming. The U.S. had lost all but one of its 14 previous matches versus the Brazilians, getting outscored 29-10 in the process. The average American probably couldn't tell you what the World Cup trophy looks like. In Brazil, each weekday is designated for polishing one of the nation's five titles.

In America, kids with powerful feet are sometimes recruited as a placekicker in college football. Someone tall and agile enough to play keeper may be tempted to take his/her skills to the hardcourt. In the States, youth who are enamored with the game of soccer, but gifted enough to excel at other sports, face a crossroads: 1) pursue the considerably less sexy professional prospects of a game that has little cache, or 2) take up one of the four major sports, each offering a road lined with riches and unparalleled superstardom.

Little boys and girls in Brazil essentially have no choice but to play soccer. But, then again, they don't need one. The game is ingrained. It is natural. It is a way of life. Variations of the game, such as footvolley, beach football, and futsal (indoor soccer), have sprouted up all over the country. In a nation of more than 191 million, only 23 are deemed qualified to play for the national team, but the talent of those who are not handpicked could easily constitute a number of other squads, each undoubtedly capable of holding its own.

Forget what you have heard about the current FIFA world rankings. Spain boasts the top spot, but the Spaniards' 35-game winning streak disguised the truth: Brazil is the best team in the world. If the Brazilians have one flaw, it's that they play only when they want to. But the squad's wealth of talent allows them to turn the switch on at any time, often with minimal effort and without having to make up much ground from when it is turned off.

A worldwide audience saw what can happen when both the former and latter occur. Even a team as historically inept as the United States can run with the Brazilians when they don't take things seriously. As well as the Americans played during the first half on Sunday, anything short of a one-of-a-kind performance during the final 45 minutes wasn't going to prevent Brazil from waking from its slumber.

Donovan's brilliance gave the U.S. a surprising 2-0 lead (Getty)

The U.S. played the counterattack game to near-perfection in sprinting out to a 2-0 lead within the opening 30 minutes. If forward Clint Dempsey's redirection of a Jonathan Spector cross was a matter of luck, then midfielder Landon Donovan's tally in the 27th minute—the result of a clinical give-and-go with Charlie Davies—was sheer and undeniable brilliance.

Only 10 days removed from crucifying the U.S. in a game of Men vs. Boys, 3-0, in group play on June 18, Brazilian manager Dunga and his army of disoriented soldiers entered the locker room at halftime sharing the same expression: shock.

The U.S. team was in uncharted territory. Already in the final of a FIFA event for the first time in its unflattering soccer history, the United States needed only one solid half to secure its first international tournament win. Unfortunately, however predictable it may have been, the U.S.'s performance in the second half epitomized the reason(s) why our proud nation will never be able to count prowess on the pitch among its many attributes.

Indeed, this game was a tale of two halves. Even with a two-goal lead, you could just see the U.S. coaching staff preaching preventative measures designed to cope with the inevitable enemy onslaught. Alas, no more than five minutes after Brazil emerged from the intermission having decided it was going to start playing was the lead cut to one. Once Luis Fabiano scored in the 46th minute, the fate of the U.S. team was sealed.

The goal that opened up play in the second half was foreshadowing, but anyone that knows the game already had an idea of what was in store for the Americans on a chilly night in South Africa. Once the lead was trimmed to 2-1, blood entered the water and the Brazilians began circling, unleashing an unrelenting arsenal of dazzling offensive firepower at American goalkeeper Tim Howard, who was the undisputed MVP of the tournament, at least on the American side.

Howard made 10 saves on Sunday, often sprawling to his left or right to deflect a scud missile off the foot of a Brazilian attacker. Even when he was unable to keep the ball in front of the end line, Howard was keeping his team in the game. Thanks to an impressive bit of improvisational acting, Howard was able to help convince referees that a Kaka header in the 60th minute didn't go in after clanking off the underside of the crossbar.

Without Howard's heroics, the slim defeat could have reached ugly proportions. With the U.S. no longer able to employ the attacking style of play that dictated the flow of the opening 45 minutes, Brazil fired a majority of its 31 total shots during the second half, including numerous scoring chances on what seemed like an infinite number of set pieces. Tired American defenders led to careless and imprudent challenges, which, in turn, led to opportunities for Brazil to put their artistry to good use.

In all, the U.S. managed only four shots on Brazilian keeper Julio Cesar, with at least two coming during the first half.

When Brazil decided to be Brazil, for all intents and purposes, the game was over. Like the rest of the world's soccer elite, Brazil's cohesiveness as a unit is astonishing, which makes its creativity with (and without) the ball all the more confounding. Brazilian athleticism shone through, and all the U.S. could do was morph into a helpless defensive shell that has became an all-too-familiar trademark of American soccer.

Brazil has some tremendous athletic specimens, as does the U.S., but Brazil's are soccer athletes. The U.S.'s are not. And it's likely, no matter how far into the future we like to predict when our country will reach full-on soccer maturity, that we may never produce the players that so frequently define the breathtaking play of the world's elite national teams. On an individual level, the States has produced some magnificent soccer players. But the fluidity and precision and imagination that comes with placing 11 products of age-old soccer intuition on a field at the same time will never be a reality in America.

Looking at the glass as half-full, Sunday's performance was historic for U.S. soccer, especially considering the manner in which the Americans thoroughly whipped the world's most intimidating team for an entire half. After shocking top-ranked Spain in the semifinal, many called for an enormous collapse, so as to imply that the U.S. should concede defeat and simply be satisfied with making it to the finals.

By the same token, a match against Brazil in the final of a high-profile worldwide tournament brought with it huge opportunity. Both critics and supporters of U.S. soccer have contended that in order for our nation to be taken seriously on a grand stage, the team needs to fiercely compete in, if not win, games such as these.

As Brazil celebrated another title, Dempsey and the U.S. lamented (Getty/AP)

No doubt this setback will sting, but the pain should dissipate quickly. To help them put this loss behind them, the U.S. players and coaches need only look as far as July's Gold Cup and its offer of redemption. And, of course, there's always next summer's World Cup, to be held in South Africa, which is an event that will feature far more talented teams and a significantly increased dose of intensity.

In the aftermath of the loss to Brazil, mediatypes and fans from across the country are expressing hope for the United States' soccer future. "Now that we can play with the likes of Brazil...," they exclaim, insinuating that one stellar half somehow a superpower makes. The truth is (and this is looking at the same glass half-empty), the U.S. will never be a member of that exclusive fraternity of soccer superpowers. Countries like England, France, Germany, Spain, Brazil, and the Netherlands are the founding members, and they'll try their darnedest to keep America from gaining entry.

For years, the American soccer public has clamored for that one signature win that create momentum and turn the competitive tide. Save for the famed 1-0 win over England in the 1950 World Cup, it's hard to come up with one that holds any real weight. But that's what happens in a country where heralded athletic skill is dispersed across a wide spectrum of sports that seldom includes soccer. If you span a timeline of the sport in the United States, progress is clear, but for a country that places so much of its pride on athletic achievement, that progress has not transpired nowhere near quickly enough.

This country's first hill to climb in achieving worldwide success in the game of soccer is winning the respect of the worldwide community, which arguably was done against Brazil, if not before.

As the final whistle sounded on Sunday, Brazil and the United States, though still intertwined, could not have been entrenched in a deeper contrast. The elation and bewilderment that had followed their respective teams into the locker room at the half were now laid out on the field for all to see, but on opposite ends from where they had started.

American heads hung. Wide Brazilian smiles were concealed only by teammates embracing one another.

And as the opponent raised its second consecutive Confederation Cup trophy, U.S. players gingerly made their way off the field at Johannesburg's Ellis Park lamenting that they had let a golden chance slip through their fingers.

And then came the realization that this chance may never come again.

Following his team's disappointment, Donovan put the night's events into perspective: "We're at the point where we don't want respect, we want to win," he said. "There's no guarantee we ever get back to a final game like this, so it's disappointing."

Got something you want me to rant on? Email me your ideas to faller001@hotmail.com or gently place them in a comment below.

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